Sixteen Mile Creek

Sixteen Mile Creek Valley
The Sixteen Creek watershed is composed of three broad drainage basins - the West, Middle and Eastern Branches, which converge below the Niagara Escarpment to flow south through the deeply incised creek valley into Lake Ontario through Oakville Harbour.  The steep banks and stepped terraces of the Valley were created by glacial meltwater, and erosion of the till and shale deposits left behind by retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age, 12 to 15 thousand years ago.  This scenic valley is protected as an Environmentally Sensitive Area.  It is an important fish and wildlife corridor; contains a wide range of plant communities; provides habitat for provincially and regionally rare species; has relatively undisturbed blocks of woodland and significant geological features; is a major groundwater discharge area; and contributes to the maintenance of surface water quality.

Trees & Plants of the Sixteen
The trees and shrubs of the Valley provide much of its beauty and character.  The Valley forms a transition zone between two major forest regions; the Southern Deciduous Forest (Carolinian) Region, and the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Forest Region.  Trees that favour warmer, drier conditions such as the white pine and the white oak tend to locate on the western /southern slopes of the creek. Others, such as the white cedar prefer the cooler more moist conditions of the northern/eastern slopes.  The valley is also home to almost 400 different species of plants, including both common favourites and some that are rare and vulnerable.

Wildlife of the Sixteen
The size (around 1070 hectares/2500 acres) and improved environmental conditions of the Sixteen Valley enable it to perform valuable ecological functions and sustain abundant wildlife, including many common and a number of rare species.  Regrettably, in a past period of environmental neglect a number of birds and animals, which had lived in the valley, such as the passenger pigeon (last recorded breeding in the region in 1886), became extinct.  Today the creek valley supports 94 bird species, 12 species of amphibians, 10 species of reptiles, 14 species of mammal, and 22 species of fish. Representative species, which may be seen in the area, are illustrated on this panel.

Unique Parks for Oakville
Where once there was a village there are now parks.  Lions' Valley Park was the first, built by the Lions Club of Oakville in 1963. Pioneers in this venture, as they have been in many other community projects, Lions collected contributions and constructed a 20 hectare (50 acre) "Nature Park" which they turned over to the Town. It quickly became a popular destination for picnics, sports and the enjoyment of nature.  Thirty years later the Town assembled adjacent land for the 81 hectare (200 acre) Sixteen Mile Creek Valley Park. As their Millennium project, Oakville's two Lions Clubs partnered the Community Foundation and the Town to link the two parks and the Heritage Trails. This park system will be extended further north as the Town grows.

Sawmills on the Sixteen
Water powered our first industries.  By 1851 there were 15 sawmills on Trafalgar Township streams. Five were on the Sixteen between Dundas Street and Lake Ontario. They were:

• Phillip Trille's mill above Upper Middle Road (c. 1810)
• George Chalmer's mill at Dundas Street (1827)
• William Chisholm's mill at Speers Road (1830)
• Hiram McCraney's mill above the QEW (1835)
• Thompson Smith's mill below Upper Middle Road (1838)

Thompson Smith also built the first steam- powered mill on the west bank of the Sixteen below the harbour bridge in 1851. Later owned by the McCraneys and the Dotys, in the 1870s it became "one of the largest mills in the country" producing boards, shingles and railway ties.

Read Deborah Lerech's essay "Sawmills on the Sixteen"

Sixteen Hollow 1820-1880
In 1827 George Chalmers built a settlement with water-powered mills beside the Sixteen at the Dundas crossing.  A small sawmill and gristmill were constructed on the valley bottom at the edge of a pond formed by a dam.  In future years a church, school, ashery, blacksmith shop, distillery and tavern provided services to the local farmers.  In 1844 Chalmers suffered financial difficulties and sold his buildings to John Proudfoot, after which the community was locally referred to as "Proudfoot's Hollow."  The village continued to prosper with the addition of a tannery, carding mill and steam stave mill until the coming of the railroad to Oakville in 1855. The railroad and the collapse of world grain prices adversely impacted the prosperity of the village.  From 500 persons the village declined to only two families by the 1880's.

Read Deborah Lerech's essay "Sixteen Hollow - 1820-1880"